Bloody Sea of Dragons
A King's Castle It was by no means an area that was hospitable to ordinary life. And yet the functionality of this structure was built for civilization; how? It was simple. This arena was the face of battles beyond the scope of an ordinary Mage; another one would occur here today. Standing upon the blistering heat of the stone that constituted this volcano was an...unfamiliar face. Certainly, he was not suited for the environment at all. Sharp facial features, slightly messy neck-length black hair, sharp red eyes, and an attire befitting a noble. By all means, the man should have been sweating profusely, but he was impassive in the face of both this odd castle-like remnant and the overflowing lava that erupted from the volcano it was next to. The sulfuric fumes, the power of the gushing lava, it all caused his blood to literally boil. Not in excitement, not in anticipation, in anger. The man whose appearance indicated nobility was no other than the infamous Ash Sangria, a being of such power that he was rightfully considered the Bloodborne Enemy of Dragons. Yet why was he here? In this contest that so many Dragon Slayers aspire towards? It was simple; it was a recruitment process. Through the battles that he will more than likely overcome, the man would test to see who was worthy to be part of his schemes for the world at large. Of course, he would never reveal his true identity to these individuals, instead opting to face his enemies under the name Terence, at least until he found it necessary to do otherwise. And so he stood at the checkpoint, arms crossed over his chest, waiting for his opponent to arrive. Walking towards the meeting point for his first match, Dagda Aurora was paying more attention to his own notebook then to his surrounding area just so that he could read up on his history before the match would start. A gentle and smooth face, unruly dark blue hair that went down past his shoulder blades, azure eyes, and an attire seen more on a traveling merchant or a rich hunter. When one would look at this stranger and compare it to the surrounding area, not to mention the heat, it seemed weird that he was not sweating profusely. However, it was not that he didn't feel the heat that Dagda didn't sweat, it was just that his clothing kept him cool in the same way as you would keep yourself cool in the desert. Well, not exactly in the same way as he did not wear the same kinds of robes as desert dwellers did, but his clothing was loose enough that the air can circulate within them. After all, warm air rises and is usually replaced by cooler air as the movement of the warm air would bring in cool air. Nearing the meeting point enough that he could see his opponent, Dagda stored his notebook away before the other could see it. So I have to fight an aristocrat this time? Placing his hands in the pockets of his coat jacket after seeing his opponent, he shrugged for a bit before walking up to this Terence. "Hi there stranger, mind giving me your name? It is easier getting to know each other if we know each other's names after all" Terence looked behind him, witnessing the arrival of his opponent. He scanned him from head to toe, garnering an idea of the man's physical fitness and general attitudes. "Hello," Terence replied calmly. "The name's Terence. And yourself?" Terence asked, loosening his hands away from his chest and placing his right hand in his pocket. When being close enough for the introduction, Dagda just stopped walking while showing a simple smile while answering. "The name is Dagda, nice to meet you." At least this time he didn't get a trigger happy opponent like the cute girl of last year, and in the end he didn't even get her name. "I suppose the circumstances aren't particularly nice, though." Terence chuckled to himself, lifting himself off from the ball of his left foot and moving backwards by about three meters. Once sufficient distance was obtained, he looked upon his opponent while focusing his magical aura around his being, tightly. It revealed a crimson shroud permeating from Terence's body, a clear indication of his seriousness. "Shall we begin?" "I don't mind this area that much though." Focussing his own magical aura around his body, Dagda pulled his hands out of his pockets while tightening the aura around his body. As an ocean blue color slowly became visible through his aura, Dagda covered his own body with his own water dragon scales to increase his defense. "Unless you just want to have a debate like nobles usually prefer, we can begin indeed" Time to see what kind of opponent he got this time after all. It took but a moment for the battle to begin. The man did not vocalize any sort of hint to his next movement, instead opening the palm of his right hand and moving his fingers inwards. While his magical aura was still active, Terence swiped his arm leftward, releasing a stream of blood-red energy towards Dagda's torso in the form of a crescent, while drops of blood tainted the ashen grey of the mountain they were standing upon. Covering his left hand in a rapid flow of water, Dagda waited until his opponent would either get closer or fire off an attack that would help him identify the element that Terence would be using. Noticing the swiping movement Terence was making, Dagda brought out his own wings to protect him against the incoming crescent wave of blood-red energy while at the same time trying to figure out the element that his opponent was using. "Why so silent all of a sudden Terence? Don't you want to speak during our match?" Noticing how the crescent slash from Terence did push him back a few centimetres as his wings took the impact of the attack, Dagda made a small nervous smile. Seems he got another strong opponent for his introduction fight in the battle royal, just his luck again it seemed. "So I am guessing that that is a no to the proposition of a debate instead of a fight with our fists?" With silence being his companion, Terence moved forward as the wings in front of Dagda mildly covered his eyesight. With the water before him undoubtedly shifting his perception slightly, the man once again released a torrent of red energy towards his enemy, this time dragging the energy with his hand to release it as a circular, spinning object of great speed. As he occupied his line of sight with the bright energy attack, Terence stopped on the arches of his left foot, bending the leg downwards and then, using this position as an anchor, pushed up with great force. Turning his torso around vertically, Terence's right leg snapped open at the moment it turned towards Dagda's direction. "Begin Clotting" Terence thought to himself, as the skin around his foot's pigmentation turned blood red, being barely visible in the opening provided by his pants. At the moment his foot faced downward, and his body was upward, his fall had begun to conclude. He aimed his aerial assault towards Dagda's right shoulder in the attempt of penetrating his defense and disabling him, all in one go. Bracing himself for another attack, Dagda grunted a bit after getting another hit to his wings with the circular energy. Noticing Terence coming closer, he covered both of his hands in water, solidifying the scales and water claws in preparation to grab hold of Terence. Depending on how he could get a hold of his opponent, Dagda would most likely be able to break the bones of this Terence. Capturing Terence's falling kick with his claws, Dagda's knees nearly buckled under the impact that came from capturing the kick. "Gotcha boy." Water Dragon's Grip Releasing a concentrated current of water from both of his hands, Dagda tried breaking Terence's knee cap with his left claw while using the same amount of force on the fibula. As Terence had been caught by Dagda's attack and witnessed his next maneuver, he would counteract the moment he began to feel water collect at his feet. The next moment, the pigmentation that was briefly visible around Terence's ankle would vanish. His foot was lighter, albeit not for a good reason. Red energy collected beneath his heel in a spherical form, before being blasted towards the currents of water at blistering speed. The resulting collision between the two forces caused a minor shockwave to erupt from the epicenter, producing enough force to allow Terence to escape from the grip of Dagda, forcing him to perform an aerial somersault that let him land behind Dagda. Within that next moment, Terence lifted himself from his knees and once again faced Dagda's direction, this time covering his arms and legs in red pigmentation. His right foot was placed in front of his left, while his fists were in a parallel position. He stayed quiet, clearly probing Dagda to make the next move. Cracking his fingers for a bit after Terence escaped from his grip, Dagda turned to face where Terence was. Seeing how Terence placed his hands and feet, Dagda smiled while spreading his wings as he revealed his tail to his opponent. "Just out of curiosity, but are you a blood dragon slayer Terence? If so, I've always wondered how blood dragons never ran out of blood if they used their own blood for their technique's." Gathering and condensing water in the shape of a bow while he spoke, Dagda was curious if his opponent would let him fire of an arrow this close or if he would have to rely on an old trick to fire the arrow. Snapping the nock of the arrow on the bowstring while keeping his eyes on Terence, Dagda tweaked the fletches for the least air resistance, the point as sharp as possible, and enhancing the required weight to pull the string back. "Lets see if your defense is solid enough to endure one of my arrows shall we?" Pulling the string back with his shoulder muscles, Dagda charged a rather big amount of energy in the arrow as he started to look down the shaft and placing the point on his target. Distributing his weight evenly on both of his feet during the aiming process, he increased the weight of the string at the last possible moment to increase the strength of the shot threefold. If Terence would block the arrow, he would have to block enough power to blow up a street in combination with enough penetrative strength to pierce through at least three layers of metal. Terence observed the formation of the arrow carefully. It was clear this was an attempt to pull off a one-hit kill. However, Terence would not allow such things to occur. The moment that the arrow was pulled outwards, the Blood Dragon Slayer took a stride as his body leaned downwards towards the right. He narrowly avoided the range of the arrow, thus preventing it from causing any damage to himself. Upon the arrow going completely out of range, he used his left foot which had gone in front as an anchor to push himself forward. He then raised his right arm, clenching his blood red hand into a fist as he attempted to connect with Dagda's chest. In the process of doing so, the layered red skin on top of his fist seemingly evaporated, once again forming into an orb of bright red energy that intended on exploding as soon as Ash's fist connected with Dagda's chest. Seeing Terence dodge the arrow, Dagda released a soft sigh. Seems this Terence didn't want to test if his defense could survive against his arrow. Covering his legs with water to improve the strength and shaping water on his feet in the shape of dragon feet for increased grip, he tweaked his scales to accommodate for redirecting energy while at the same time reshaping the bow in a gauntlet on his left hand as Terence came at him. Anchoring his feet to the ground in an effort to stand his ground, Dagda knew he would take a risk by receiving the hit to his chest. Enduring the hit and explosion as his scales got damaged, Dagda swung his tail around Terence's neck while trying to redirect as much kinetic energy as possible towards Terence with both of his hands while trying to choke him at the same time. Depending on if his opponent managed to escape, he would have to either fly towards the sky to recharge himself or go for a fist fight if that was what his opponent was going for. Terence knew that an aerial maneuver at this point would just cause him both injury and an opening to Dagda's arrows. As such, he pressed on regardless of the risk. Due to both attacks aiming above his waist, Terence used the most logical approach. He took the embrace of gravity and shot his head and torso downwards, using the palms of his hands to break the impact. Within that moment, he lifted his feet off the ground by using his arms as an anchor. Subsequently, by shifting his weight onto his left arm, supported by the cloak of blood that he now wore across his body, he spun anti-clockwise with the intention of kicking Dagda's shin with the full force of his strike. In the process of doing so, he also built up blood within his mouth, facing Dagda's direction and released his roar at full power, leaving him to be stranded in a two-pronged assault that surely wouldn't leave him unharmed. Jumping back the moment Dagda saw Terence crouch, Dagda readied a roar to increase the distance as fast as possible. As Terence released his own roar towards Dagda, the water dragon slayer himself aimed his own roar at the floor to launch himself into the air in an effort to escape the roar of his opponent. Using his wings to float in the air, Dagda covered himself in water for a few moments before two more identical clones appeared next to him. Both of his clones were not only identical in looks and behavior, but also in the techniques and strength they had access to. As the one on the left descended back to the ground again, the middle one began charging an arrow again as the one to the right began opening his mouth, and took a deep breath, filtering the components in the air for his own element. It was actually rather simple once one got the hang of it, the air around them on the planet consisted of more than oxygen as most people would most likely know. Hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and argon were just a few of the components that one could find in the air every being on the planet breathed in. And if one would not only follow the teachings of their dragon, but also ask them to teach their foster children how to eat their own element from the air around them, one would learn that the components of water could also be found in the air. By studying not only these components, but also how to use them in the creation of their own element, one could eventually learn to filter the components needed for their element if their foster-parent would take the time to teach them that instead of continuing on with the other techniques. Sure, he had no access to most secret arts, and his own version was inferior to Aquamarian, but it was good enough most of the time to replenish his energy and magic. The ultimatum of Ash's maneuver worked out. Dagda, who hadn't been able to cover the distance occupied by his kick, had his left shin injured from the impact. While the damage lessened by his distancing, it was nevertheless difficult for him to move about freely as a result. On the other hand, the collision of roars between Terence and Dagda caused a fountain of dense liquid to erupt from in between the two combatants, leaving both Terence and Dagda unaware of each other's positions, while also causing Dagda's arrow to miss his target. Using this information allowed Dagda's use of cloning to be more visible to Terence, who took the opportunity to dash through the opening conjured by the fountain and dash to the left, where crimson energy permeated from his left hand and formed into a javelin. "Tooth." Flicking his wrist with only a small amount of force, the javelin shot forward with notable speed, intending to dissipate the image of Dagda by completely piercing through its stomach. While the path of the javelin was under way, Terence conjured a pair of brilliant red wings. In a single flap, he flew above the ground and made his way to Dagda and his clone in the air, covering his hands in shrouds of energy as he fired them towards both clones, with their speed causing gusts of wind to follow their trail. Finishing up with the filtering of water to restore his energy, Dagda showed a small smile as his shin returned to normal. As long as he remained in the air, it wouldn't pose that much of a problem, but the moment that Dagda had to land or use kicks again the shin could make it more troublesome than needed if he didn't manage to fix it during his little recharge. Seeing the crimson colored javelin closing in on the Dagda that descended back on the ground, Dagda decided to gamble a bit and actually trying to drink the javelin. Blood consisted of water after all, so by filtering it the same way he did with the air, Dagda should in theory be capable of eating the blood-related attack without adverse effects. If it worked out properly, Dagda would be able to nullify most of the blood related attacks by influencing the water in it. Whistling at the sight of Terence's wings, the Dagda that wasn't charging up his arrow kept reinforcing his scales while protecting his partner from the shrouds of energy that Terence fired at them. Waiting until the very last moment, Dagda defended himself against the attacks before dissolving his wings as the arrow was shot at almost point blank range. If it would hit, it would hit with enough power to destroy a castle. If Terence would dodge it again like last time, Dagda would detonate the arrow this time to let him feel the explosive strength in his back. Either way, he would feel the aftershock of the explosion in both cases which was also why Dagda kept reinforcing his scales to reduce the incoming damage as much as possible. Category:Roleplay Category:Dragon Slayer Royale